I’ve always been a little over the top when it comes to my birthday so it probably surprised no one that I went fanning into this one in an 18th century dress. One of the best travel resources I started using this trip were Airbnb experiences which are experiences that you can reserve with local artists, instructors, and experts to learn more about a city from the people who live there.

I really love the concept and the experiences because throwing money at a tourist trap is not exactly my idea of a good time. I really love that Airbnb is opening revenue streams for local artists, while providing travelers with unique experiences…like this one!

As I’ve written before, London hasn’t always been my favorite city but this trip has pretty much been a dream as far as experiences. I’m not sure exactly why, but something just clicked this time around…seventh time’s a charm I guess. But real talk. My time in London was absolutely beautiful. One of the main reasons, of course, being this photo shoot from Royal Day Out.

Not only was did this experience allow me to dress up in a eighteenth century dress (with my Vans on, ah yeah.) but it also allowed me to see more of London with a mini tour from my host/photographer, Lauren. Lauren was everything a photographer should be, and really captured the fun that taking these photos should be. She was an absolute ray of sunshine to walk around with, and we had tons of laughs as people gawked, waved and stopped us on the streets.

It was funny  how the whole experience turned out because I thought I would be in a group when I booked the photoshoot, but it turned out to be just me and Lauren. At first it was a little intimidating since she didn’t (for obvious photographer reasons) dress up as well but I got used to it as we walked our way to Kensington Park…which is where Harry and Meghan have their London residence. NBD.

It was funny because I really thought I was going to go for one of the white or light pink dresses and a subtle pink wig (or natural hair) but the moment I saw the blue dress I gravitated toward it. Yes I tried on some pink dresses as well, but it just wasn’t the same. The blue dress fit me like a glove and the rest of the outfit fell together flawlessly. One of my favorite parts was the fan which really helped me with the anxiety of walking around in London in costume. Ha. It also, of course, was a great addition to the look as a whole.

Other highlights of my birthday included having a banana chocolate cake baked for me by my Airbnb host and watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race which is currently my obsession. But I would definitely say that the photoshoot made this one of the most memorable birthdays to date. Someone asked me when the ball was going to be, and no joke-that’s my plan for my 30th birthday.